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BRIAN DALY, QMI Agency

MONTREAL - He's the top player on the top-ranked team in U.S. college basketball, but Kris Joseph once wondered if he'd ever get off the bench for the Syracuse Orange.

The 6-foot-7 Montrealer is the leading scorer for the Orange, which is atop the polls for the fourth consecutive week and a favourite to make the Final Four.

Most draft boards have pegged Joseph as a mid to late first-round pick in the 2012 NBA draft. That's rarefied air even among the bumper crop of Canadian talent gracing U.S. high school and college campuses.

In a telephone interview before a road game Wednesday against Providence, the senior forward reflected on his six-year journey to stardom from anonymous beginnings in Cote-des-Neiges, a working-class neighbourhood on Mount Royal.

"It's big," said Joseph, who left Montreal at 15 to finish high school in Washington, D.C.

The work ethic instilled by his family is missing in many young players who are hyped as stars as early as middle school.

Joseph nearly fell victim to expectations when he arrived at Syracuse in 2008 amid glowing reviews from scouting services.

Things quickly went sour when coach Jim Boeheim parked him on the bench, unsatisfied with his fitness level.

Raptors television analyst and former Syracuse star Leo Rautins, who lives near the campus, says Joseph wasn't ready for big-time basketball.

"I had conversations with Kris his freshman year (and) he was in some ways just shocked by what he was seeing," Rautins said in an interview.

"The failure rate is very high because ... you get these kids with these expectations that I'm going to be a stud right away. It doesn't happen so they're unhappy, they get discouraged, they transfer schools."

But Joseph's mother, Eartha, and brother, Maurice, also a college player, refused to coddle him when he called home with his worries.

"I talked to them and they were all telling me 'just tough it out,' " Joseph said. "They just said it's your first year, things will look better, you're young and you still have a lot to learn."

Instead of transferring schools like so many disgruntled young players, Joseph changed his diet and fired up hundreds of jump shots a day in summer workouts.

He bounced back his sophomore season with averages of 10.8 points and 5.5 rebounds per game and was named Big East Sixth Man of the Year.

Joseph earned a spot on the All Big East third team last season and currently averages 14.0 points and 5.2 rebounds while shooting a career-best 39.3% on threes.

Now he's looking to cap his career with a national championship while trying to enjoy every moment of his final season.

"It's bittersweet because ... it's coming to an end faster than I had expected," Joseph said.

"But it's also exciting to know that the next part of my life, the next part of my basketball career, will take off."